Local News

A Mills County adult is among the latest victims of the H1N1 influenza virus.

The Mills county resident, who was listed only as a male, in the Iowa Department of Public Health release, is the first in the county to die from the virus. The state lists the Mills County death with three other death in Dubuque, Polk and Monona counties in last Wednesday's press release. All but one individual had medical conditions that increased the risk of complications, according to the press release. The latest death brings the state's death toll to 11.

R. Scot Booth is the new superintendent of the Glenwood Resource Center.

But in a previous life, some 35 years ago, Booth was a star right-handed pitcher at Long Island University who turned down a contract offer with the Texas Rangers to pursue another dream: advocating for special education students in the New York Public Schools.

“I have the same passion for this job and this world as I did on that mound 35 years ago trying to strike somebody out,” said the Brooklyn-born Booth. “I'm an advocate and advocates are passionate people.”

The Glenwood City Council has pulled the plug on a proposal to generate additional revenue for the city’s general fund by raising cable television fees.

Glenwood City Administrator / Finance Director Mary Smith told council members that based on figures from the 2008 calendar year, over $12,000 could be generated annually if the city were to raise the franchise fee it collects from Mediacom from the current rate of 3 percent to 5 percent.

More than 900 acres in Mills County is Iowa’s newest dedicated preserve.

Sitting on a 906 acre parcel of land on the southeast edge of the Glenwood Resource Center property, the Glenwood State Archaeological Preserve is Iowa’s 96th and now largest dedicated preserve. The site holds more than 100 recorded archaeological sites ranging from 5,000 years in age to early Euro-American settlements some 150 years ago. Most significant of the archaeological finds are 27 earth lodge sites related to the Glenwood culture that lived in the area around 1300 A.D.

MALVERN - A 20-year-old Mills County resident died at an Omaha hospital early Friday morning after being struck by a train near the Wabash Trace Trail in Malvern around 9 p.m. on Thursday.

According to a Mills County Sheriff’s Office report, the Mills County Communications Center received a report from the Burlington-Northern Santa Fe Railroad that a pedestrian lying on the tracks in Malvern had been struck by a train. Mills County deputies along with members of the Malvern Fire and Rescue unit responded.

Five computers were stolen during an overnight break-in Thursday at an auxiliary building behind the Glenwood Middle School.

Glenwood Police Chief Mike Mercer said the person or persons responsible for the theft entered the building after breaking out multiple windows. The stolen computers, including towers and monitors, are valued at approximately $3,500, Mercer said.